true lies so awes fuiud
― do u like green ez & jam (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 July 2014 07:20 (nine years ago) link
prime arnold ends w/ t2 at the latest, everything after (and to an extent this includes t2 but the movie overcomes it) is him playing a dull hero or dully playing against that type. before he'd just been a hilarious killing machine.
yeah I think T2 is pretty great but it was filled with warning signs for the rest of arnie's career. for pure undiluted Schwarzenegger you've got to stick to his conan thru total recall era and no further. Even watching something like raw deal or red heat is a nice palette cleanser.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Tuesday, 1 July 2014 07:35 (nine years ago) link
Dragnet and it's not even close.
― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, July 1, 2014 1:23 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― pandemic, Tuesday, 1 July 2014 09:24 (nine years ago) link
Voted Hannibal - have always liked its baroque black comedy, the only way to treat the source material
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 1 July 2014 09:34 (nine years ago) link
Have any of these other than Tango & Cash been lethal brands of heroin?
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/04/nyregion/toxic-heroin-has-killed-12-officials-say.html
― how's life, Tuesday, 1 July 2014 09:42 (nine years ago) link
Rising Sun is fairly regularly shown on Film4/C4 for some reason.
Sean Connery as cultural liaison officer has a lot of (realised) comedic potential.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 1 July 2014 09:47 (nine years ago) link
true lies was the new jersey momentum picture off of t2!
― balls,
Yeah, that's the way I look at it too. I saw True Lies in college w/my parents and cousins during one of our last hey-it's-summer-let's-all-hang-out things -- one of the most depressing experiences of my life. I was very much alone while the audience yelled and clapped and hooted through every one of Tom Arnold's terrible one-liners (lol remember momentary Supporting Actor buzz??) and the glee with which the movie and Arnold took revenge on Jamie Lee Curtis for the script's risible notion of imagining an affair b/w her and the car salesman (!). The striptease routine is still one of the most embarrassing and grotesque spectacles I've ever seen; it justifies the extinction of the human race.
Let's not even get into the Arab stereotypes either. They're worse than "Carbombia" in the original Transformers cartoons.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 01:55 (nine years ago) link
It's a little fuzzy because Last Action Hero totally is what first took the bloom off the rose, but after True Lies - noxious, awful super-blockbuster that it is - it maybe seemed like LAH was just going to be the one misstep that you could forget about later.
True Lies was such a monster hit that LAH really felt like the kind of bomb studio execs can forgive because it's humbling and the star learns his limits or something; it's the Days of Thunder Clause (although DOT apparently made a bit of money so forget the theory)
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 01:57 (nine years ago) link
what the heck is New Jersey momentum?
― Nhex,
Every huge artist has their "New Jersey" - a huge event album that ultimately feels a bit hollow & signals a career decline
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 02:01 (nine years ago) link
yeah until his fall from grace the only real flop cruise had after becoming tom cruise was legend. dot and far and away may have underperformed but they still did well.
― balls, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 02:04 (nine years ago) link
ah, thanks Alfred
― Nhex, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 03:27 (nine years ago) link
tom arnold in 'true lies' was one of the worst roles i've ever seen in an action film, never mind the performance itself. i can't think of anyone who came out of that movie looking good. it was a particularly degrading role for JLC. and i mean iirc arnold's recurring one-liner in the film was him saying 'sorry!' to innocent bystanders during action scenes.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 03:33 (nine years ago) link
Everything is so misconceived. It should have been somebody you wouldn't expect to be a super-spy as their day job, not this cold-blooded powerhouse. Michael Keaton or somebody. Billy Crystal. You could get some laughs, still do some cool action - I'm thinking, like, a Date Night vibe. His wife should be in on it, because wtf. It's the kid who doesn't know, because they don't think/realize he/she is ready yet. I mean how hard is this shit?
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 04:34 (nine years ago) link
Didn't read the article about that one yet. Wasn't it based on a French movie and if so did the original have the flaws you are pointing out?
― Riot In #9 Dream (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 04:52 (nine years ago) link
I think the film could have gotten away with JLC not knowing if it had been done a lot better. the whole second act where she's fumbling around w paxton and Arnold is stalking her is stupid, creepy, and a total momentum killer. racism and misogyny and bad humor aside (which means 35% of it aside) acts 1 and 2 contain elements of a good action movie. and I like jimmy cams a lot, I think even titanic is really solid and avatar was kinda shockingly great.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 04:58 (nine years ago) link
And why do I always get it mixed up with Turner & Hooch?
One has a big brown dog. The other has Stallone.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 05:01 (nine years ago) link
everybody otm abt true lies but i will confess an enduring love for "yes, but they were all bad!"
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 08:27 (nine years ago) link
One is Kurt Russell. The other is a big brown dog named Stallone.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 13:19 (nine years ago) link
True Lies is certainly appalling for all of the reasons listed above, but I'm about half in agreement with al on the film. As pure ridiculous action spectacle, it has its moments and, if I were being honest with myself, I'd rather sit through it again than Avatar any day.
― You know something? He *did* say "well, yeah" a lot. (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:10 (nine years ago) link
As I’ve written before, Disclosure’s possibly my favourite junky ‘90s movie. I’ve seen it four or five times. Michael Douglas is at the apex of his I’ll-screw-around-so-you’ll-feel-sorry-for-me stardom (technically, he’s less guilty than in Fatal Attraction--technically), and Donald Sutherland is still in peak JFK form.
I really like the idea for the piece, but did all of the films listed have cultural impact? (To “recede culturally,” there must have been some to begin with.) I’ve only seen five of them, but some just look like generic concoctions that made a lot of movie. I went through the ‘70s lists (Listal...no idea if they’re accurate: http://www.listal.com/list/top-grossing-films-1970) and found four that would be more my idea of films that a) were argued about/controversial at the time, and b) hardly ever get written about anymore. (Sometimes with good reason--Midnight Express is pretty heavy-handed.)
Joe (1970--#13)The Hospital (1971--#13)Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977--#23)Midnight Express (1978--#17)
― clemenza, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:19 (nine years ago) link
The Michael Crighton-based films were a definitely a big deal culturally around Jurassic Park times, hence Rising Sun and Disclosure doing so well
Looking for Mr. Goodbar doesn't really get shown much anymore but it still comes up often in discussions reflecting the sexism/feminism of the period
Midnight Express gets rerun on TV all the time, foreign prison fear always sells
― Nhex, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:22 (nine years ago) link
voted secret of my success because i loved it when i was a kid and i like to wind morbs up.
― The Littlest Boho (stevie), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:25 (nine years ago) link
i really want to see joe
― The Littlest Boho (stevie), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:26 (nine years ago) link
Looking For Mr. Goodbar strikes me as a good choice: cultural phenom based on best-seller, Diane Keaton riding the Annie Hall acclaim.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:29 (nine years ago) link
Are all these essays by Rabin? He's not a very good writer, is he?
― The Littlest Boho (stevie), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:37 (nine years ago) link
I like his asides.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:39 (nine years ago) link
xp he has a schtick which can be effective when skewering the ludicrous but can also get a bit wearing, I think
― Barry Gordy (Neil S), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:40 (nine years ago) link
Also apparently Charlton Heston is in it, which I've forgotten completely and doesn't bode well either.
http://cinemasights.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/truelies-dialogue.png
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:41 (nine years ago) link
Goodbar is still cultural shorthand. In my world, anyway.
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:41 (nine years ago) link
Goodbear you mean
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:42 (nine years ago) link
Last Action Hero had funny/weird stuff in it! I didn't mind it at all, considering the total shit it's been followed by.
Haven't seen True Lies since it was released, didn't really mind that either; racism and misogyny about par, it was Reagantimes.
And for all I know it's the second-best choice. Try harder.
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:16 (nine years ago) link
Reagantimes?
― fraudulent octuplets of the moment, yon californian-ass mother (wins), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:24 (nine years ago) link
agree with morbz here, the racism/misogyny wasn't much different from every non-Terminator Arnie movie. never occurred to me that it was worse than his others, still dumbly enjoyable
― Nhex, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:32 (nine years ago) link
http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/r/u/n/running-man-02-g.jpg
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:33 (nine years ago) link
i suppose i should applaud your restraint for not going with Sub-Zero
― Nhex, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:37 (nine years ago) link
Hannibal is a blast. Makes no attempt to swim the deep waters of SOTL and is all the better for it.
― rip van wanko, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:38 (nine years ago) link
i think the racism and misogyny in a lot of other arnie flicks is more 'received wisdom' type shit that wasn't a major plot element of the story, though, whereas w/true lies the movie stops for entire scenes where arnold and arnold can bitch about women or speculate about the virginity of a 14 yr old girl or w/e.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:38 (nine years ago) link
Reagan...times?
― fraudulent octuplets of the moment, yon californian-ass mother (wins), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:43 (nine years ago) link
in high school i wrote an op-ed chastising bob dole for praising true lies over true romance
― da croupier, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:45 (nine years ago) link
the right ta-ta but the wrong ho-ho
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:45 (nine years ago) link
nathan rabin is the king of writing unreadable shit like i'd to read about
― da croupier, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:47 (nine years ago) link
on subjects i'd like to read about, i mean
― da croupier, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:49 (nine years ago) link
Didn't "True Lies" also cast an Arabic actor (dunno the guy's name) as one of the comedy-relief computer/gadget geeks at the agency? I figured that was Cameron (or the casting department) being self-reflexive about all the negative Arab stereotypes and the anticipated uproar.
― Sir Lord Baltimora (Myonga Vön Bontee), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 16:51 (nine years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Monday, 7 July 2014 00:01 (nine years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Tuesday, 8 July 2014 00:01 (nine years ago) link
hahaha
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 July 2014 17:18 (nine years ago) link
Weird.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 9 July 2014 17:28 (nine years ago) link
ilx's male predominance at work?
― frog latin (Aimless), Wednesday, 9 July 2014 22:27 (nine years ago) link
XXX one vote short of "3" votes (3 Xes in title)
― mattresslessness, Wednesday, 9 July 2014 22:31 (nine years ago) link
guess I should watch The Secret of My Success for the first time in....28 years?
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 July 2014 22:43 (nine years ago) link